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Morphology

Dr O’Shea and Dr Kubodera are taking measurements of the colossal squid characteristics, for example measurements of the tentacle portions, the carpus (‘wrist’), manus (‘palm’ or ‘hand’), and dactylus (‘digit’ or ‘finger’). Counts of the numbers of suckers and claws . . . .

Like Jean, I would definitely pay for this as well. Could be a good fundraiser – then you might be able to afford preserving it in alcohol after all – “Hic!” 😉 . Though thinking about it realistically it will be too late by then. But the cash might be useful for other things in relation to the display of that awsome beast!

We are back from swimming school (no squids in the pool – Leo [he is 2 1/2yrs old] did ask wether we would see one) and now that he is doing his afternoon nap, I am yet again glued to the screen.
We are having the same problem with audio on and off every 10 to 40 seconds. Is all this live screening taped or recorded somewhere that we could tap into at a later stage?

We assume colossal squid have a hectocotylus, but there’s still a large piece of ice to thaw!
Things are fairly slow just at the moment. we have to wait for the tissue to thaw completely to avoid breaking the tentacles.

are the chromatophores part of the mostly-transparent layer against a cloth background, or is the texture part of the animal? Was something done to cause muscle contraction, or are they rather spread out even relaxed, or something else (I know in many cephalopods, they contract down to a very small point when the muscles are relaxed, but I don’t know if this is typical for Cranchiidae)